(Alliance News) - Cerillion PLC on Monday said annual profit rose strongly along with revenue, allowing it to increase its payout to shareholders and expect further growth in the current financial year and beyond.

In the financial year that ended September 30, the London-based billing, charging and customer relationship management software solutions provider said pretax profit rose 48% to GBP16.1 million from GBP10.9 million a year earlier.

This was alongside revenue rising 20% to GBP39.2 million from GBP32.7 million, which Cerillion said was driven by major new customer implementations, significant licence revenue and strong demand from existing customers.

This allowed Cerillion to declare a final dividend of 8.0 pence, up 23% from 6.5p a year earlier, and taking its total financial 2023 dividend to 11.3p, up 24% from 9.1p.

Cerillion's back-order book was GBP45.4 million at September 30, steady from a year earlier, but post-year-end was at a record GBP52.5 million following a recent EUR12.4 million contract win with a new unnamed European tier-1 customer.

New customer sales pipeline was up 16% to a record GBP243 million at September 30 from GBP209 million a year earlier. Net cash was up 22% to GBP24.7 million from GBP20.2 million.

Looking ahead, Cerillion said it was well-positioned for further growth in its financial 2024 "and beyond".

"Cerillion's financial position remains very strong, supported by significant net cash, increasing levels of recurring income and strong cash generation. Together with a record back-order book and strong new customer sales pipeline, this leaves us confident about Cerillion's growth prospects in the new financial year and beyond," said Chief Executive Officer Louis Hall.

Shares in Cerillion were down 0.2% at 1,302.55 pence each in London on Monday late morning.

By Greg Rosenvinge, Alliance News senior reporter

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